President of the Confederation of African Football, Dr Patrice Motsepe, has expressed confidence that an African nation will soon win the FIFA World Cup after the continent recorded its best-ever outing at the 2026 tournament.
Motsepe stated this in a statement issued on Wednesday while celebrating the historic performance of African teams at the Mundial.
According to him, nine of the 10 African countries that qualified for the competition progressed from the group stage to the Round of 32, representing a record 90 per cent qualification rate.
He noted that the feat surpassed Africa’s 20.8 per cent share of the tournament’s participants and accounted for 28.1 per cent of all teams that reached the knockout stage.
The CAF president singled out Morocco for reaching the quarter-finals for the second consecutive FIFA World Cup, while also applauding Egypt for advancing to the Round of 16.
He further commended Algeria, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Ghana, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia for contributing to what he described as Africa’s strongest collective performance at the global tournament.
“We have identified specific areas where there is room for improvement,” Motsepe said.
He added, “This will ensure even greater successes for African National Teams in future FIFA World Cups.”
To sustain the momentum, Motsepe disclosed that CAF would convene a conference involving national team coaches, technical officials, former players and football experts to review Africa’s performance at the 2026 World Cup and map out strategies ahead of the 2030 edition.
He also reaffirmed CAF’s commitment to investing in youth football, coaching development, domestic leagues and sporting infrastructure across its 54 member associations.
“Every National Team and Football Club must play its matches in their country and in front of their local supporters,” he said, stressing the need for every member association to have stadiums that meet CAF and FIFA standards.
Motsepe maintained that African football was making significant progress in both the men’s and women’s game.
“CAF is making enormous progress in developing and growing men and women football in Africa and making it amongst the best in the world,” he said.
“We remain confident that an African nation will be Champions of the FIFA World Cup.”
